Recycling Water Softeners

Recycling Water Softeners

Water softeners, fortunately, don’t contain any hazardous materials. Most of them make use of salt to soften water, so you can simply dispose of used salts in the regular trash. There are components of these devices, however, that are recyclable. Most of them contain at least some metal, which is among the most recyclable of all materials. If you have a water softener that’s past its prime, you may want to consider bringing it to the local recycling plant.

The Devices

Water softeners come in many different designs, so recycling them will depend upon what exactly you have in your home. If you have a water softener that consists of a large metal tank, then you have something that is easily recycled into many different products. If you have a water softener that simpler and that has plastic components, it might still be recyclable, but you’ll have to check with a hauler or a recycling facility to see if they want you to bring it in or to see if it’s better off to just toss it in the garbage.

Recycling

The used salts can be tossed away and brought to the landfill. There’s nothing particularly toxic about them and they’re not going to hurt anything. They’re also not recyclable. If you have copper pipes, steel components or other devices made out of metal that are part of your water softener, you can bring them to any appliance recycler to have them handle. Water softeners usually do contain at least some metal components and, as metal is very valuable it’s usually worth it to bring it down to a recycler. You may even end up getting paid a bit for the metal that you bring in to have recycled, which is yet another good part of recycling appliances such as water softeners.